Viewpoint: The Cruel Fate of Resilience

Frankie Edgar has appeared in seven straight UFC title bouts. |
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Sometime before 1 a.m. ET on Sunday morning, as the UFC
156 main event reached its most critical point, Frankie
Edgar flipped the switch.

As expected, reigning featherweight champion Jose Aldo
exploded out of the gates, feeding the Toms River, N.J., native a
steady diet of lightning-quick jabs and whipping leg kicks in
rounds one and two. A front kick to the face that bloodied Edgar’s
nose was the most spectacular strike of the third frame, but
shortly thereafter, the former lightweight titlist began to plant
those familiar seeds of doubt in the way that only he can.

When it comes to sure things, a championship round push from “The
Answer” falls somewhere just below death and taxes. According to
FightMetric.com, Edgar was the busier fighter in rounds three
through five, out-landing his opponent by a slight margin in each
of the final three frames. Sound familiar? At UFC 150, he
out-landed Benson
Henderson for three of five rounds -- including the third and
fifth -- of their lightweight championship tilt.

“I felt like I pushed the pace, I landed more punches, I got the
takedowns and I dropped him,” Edgar said in August. “My team
thought I won it, too, and even the crowd seemed like they were
behind me.”

Just moments after it was announced that Aldo had earned a
unanimous verdict on the judges’ scorecards at the Mandalay Bay
Events Center in Las Vegas, Edgar uttered a familiar refrain. He
thought he had it won.

“It was a close fight. I keep finding myself in these situations,”
Edgar said. “Congrats to Jose. He fought a great fight. I did
[think I did enough to win], but it doesn’t matter. Jose is the
winner. I’m just going to go home and take some time.”

It seems that Edgar has perfected the art of close-but-not-quite.
No one has more heart, resilience or tenacity, but for many,
Edgar’s efforts simply do not pass the sight and sound test. When
Aldo connects with a punch or kick, it resonates, whether you are
in the arena or watching at home. Edgar’s flurries do not have
nearly the same effect.

“My cornermen were talking to me all the time, and they were
explaining the situation round by round. I was pretty confident
about the results,” Aldo said. “I believe I won every round. In the
fourth round, he was dominant for about a minute when he threw me
down and caught my back, but after that, I came back to a dominant
position and controlled the center of the ring. I was very
comfortable, so I thought I won every round.”

While those scoring the fight might not have wholeheartedly agreed
with Aldo’s corner, nearly everyone, from the cageside judges to
the MMA media, had “Scarface” winning the bout by a 49-46 or 48-47
count. The matchup earned “Fight of the Night” honors from the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, Aldo maintained his standing as
one of the top pound-for-pound talents in the sport and Edgar
garnered more kudos for yet another gritty effort.

Sherdog.com File Photo

Could Jung be next in line?

Of course, Edgar would much rather have gold around his waist, but
this time it appears that the UFC will not go to the rematch well
once again for the Ricardo
Almeida Jiu-Jitsu product. After three consecutive title
rematches involving Edgar at lightweight, the general consensus is
that someone else deserves a shot at Aldo.

“The guy is so tough, but I don’t think this grants him an
automatic rematch,” UFC President Dana White told Fuel TV.

So while the likes of Ricardo
Lamas, Chan Sung
Jung, Cub Swanson
and the rest angle for the next shot at Aldo, Edgar is left to
exist in something of a lower-weight purgatory. He had to cash in
on his title shot against the Brazilian when the opportunity was
presented to him, but it now becomes difficult to forecast the
future for a man who has not competed in a non-title bout since
December 2009.

Few would dispute that Edgar would be favored against any of the
aforementioned featherweights, but is the UFC really interested in
killing off viable contenders in a still-growing division? Right
now, Edgar might very well be the world’s second best featherweight
-- and its second-best lightweight -- but neither means he will be
installed as No. 1 contender again anytime soon.

There are those who resent Edgar’s high-volume, push-the-pace
approach. They call his style point-fighting and believe that true
champions should finish fights at all costs. However, the level of
competition that Edgar has faced since his lightweight title reign
began is not conducive to highlight-reel knockouts or submissions,
and it is worth noting that Aldo, Henderson, Gray
Maynard and B.J. Penn could
not finish Edgar; he was able to stop Maynard at UFC 136.

There may be no obvious next step for Edgar at this point, but he
has already accomplished plenty, and unlike some of his highly
ranked and highly regarded cohorts, he rarely gives a lackluster
effort in the cage. On a night when Rashad
Evans baffled with his inactivity and Alistair
Overeem’s bloated physique was exceeded only by his hubris,
Edgar was who we thought he was: a fighter who is never out of a
fight.

Even for those who expected Aldo to prevail at UFC 156, the odds of
a blowout were less likely than reconciliation between White and
Randy
Couture. Edgar just would not allow it.

Preferences in women and UFC featherweights tend to vary from
person to person, but somehow, Edgar keeps hanging around. For the
first time in years, however, it appears that he is not an
immediate factor in either the 145- or 155-pound title scene. What
would Edgar have to say about that? He would probably tell you he
is never out of a fight.